tango

I've started a somewhat of a round the world trek myself. I started from Sangster International (MKJS) in Montego Bay, Jamaica with a PMDG MD11. I flew up the Eastern Seaboard up to Greenland, across to Iceland, Ireland, UK, and so on. I did a circuitous route around Europe before flying south to Algiers. I switched to the Dreamfleet 727 where I'm now tackling Africa on an anticlockwise route. Middle East is next with another aircraft, Asia with another, and so on. Each hop lasts no longer than 1.5hrs and is done with real world weather and time. It's gonna take months for sure!

Re "failings": I use the word loosely. Perhaps "shortcomings" would have been a better choice, but alas, at the end of the day it boils down to semantics. In any event, I think I may have (quite by accident) found a solution. In the Flight Planner (after setting my point of departure and destination, etc) I moved on to the Nav Log to see how long my flight would be. There in the table under "heading" is what I believe I've been looking for. It gives a heading to fly to get from one waypoint to the other. I suspect that the term "heading" is a misnomer here because "bearing" would be more accurate. I'm in the process of doing a little experiment to see how well that works. As soon as I'm reasonably sure what's going on, I'll post back and let you guys know. Thanks again.

Thanks for the input, guys! I think I understand what's happening now. I'm pretty much at the mercy of FS9, then. I never really noticed just how many failings FS9 had until I started this trek using only VOR/DME and not an FMC. These realisations have actually dampened the experience a bit for me since I'll now have to rely on checking the GPS for drift and correcting before FS9 ATC steps in. Bummer. I really appreciate the help guys. Really. It has certainly put things into perspective.

Okay guys. Thanks a lot for the input. Unfortunately I understand/know all that has already been said. I'm a real world air traffic controller so how VORs work, magnetic variation and so on are all familiar to me. What I am asking is this: Is there a way to dig through the FS9 files to find out what radials, bearings, etc are used to represent each route? They simply must be there since they are defined. I just want to know if there is a way to find them. Thanks again.

Greetings fellow Simmers.I've been having this problem that I recently discovered. I've been flying Dreemfleet's 727. I'm currently flying a trek around Africa with it and am doing so via routes that I managed to find online. This is the thing. Majority of the time the radials that are associated with the routes on real-life charts are not the same on FS9. That means when I intercept a route and follow the radial, before long the FS9 ATC will be giving me vectors back on "course".I'd like to know if there's a way I can find out what radial FS9 has associated with each route. Thanks in advance, guys.

Thanks a lot brother! Honestly, before I install a new aircraft, my FIRST move is to see if Ken makes a panel for it. If not, I may go searching for an equivalent. More often than not if Ken doesn't do a panel it's not up to my requirements and I don't install the aircraft. I have no ends of respect for the man. However, with every genius there comes one piece of work of art that isn't quite there with the rest of them. The A320 is, I'm afraid, it. Oh well. I'm seeing faults with the Marciano panel too, so I guess my OCD will NEVER be put to rest! LOL!

Update:With regard to item 2 above, I have installed and run Eric Marciano's panel and the same thing happens there as well. I arm the autobrake to say [HIGH] and when I get on the ground no matter what I do it just won't disengage automatically. I spoke with a pal of mine that flies A320s (and A321s) and he assured me that the autobrake is supposed to disengage once the toe brakes are depressed. Antiskid remains in action until below 20kts, he said. So, what am I doing wrong? Or is there really an ironic identical problem with both panels?

Hey guys! I don't mean to hijack this thread (but then again us Jamaicans are getting a reputation for that as well! LMAO) but I'd just like to get a word in here. I've been hearing for years now that Microsoft has been meaning to move FS over to some planned XBox platform that will have better user interface than the current one. Is that in any way true? I mean, let's face it, as far as entertainment is concerned FS has got to be the most popular single PC software that Microsoft makes. Why would they knowingly kill off a goose that lays a platinum egg? I'm thinking (okay, I'm starting a conspiracy theory) that they are just finally finding an excuse to move FS over to XBox. One of the things that surprises people who I explain the concept of FS to is how easy it is to manipulate it...to manipulate a MICROSOFT software?!? Impossible! I wonder if Microsoft wants to take that away from us? That's a major selling point for FS and that would not be a wise idea. I would sooner shift to X-Plane than lose the adjustability that I enjoy with FS.

I've been using Ken Mitchell panels now for quite a while (A320, A340, B727, B737) and I rate them by and large to be the best for simplicity, looks, and quality. Recently I took a short trip in the iFDG A320 with the Ken Mitchell panel and I noticed a few very strange things.1) If I select full flaps when descending on the glideslope (ILS approach), the aircraft goes into what seems to be TOGA mode and starts climbing like a bat out of hell! If I drop flaps back to setting 3 then I am fine, it settles back down on the glideslope. I am sure I am not too slow because the last time I tried it I was descending with a speed of 160 KIAS. Any ideas why this might be?2) When I set the autobrake, when I get on the ground, it takes the aircraft to a complete stop and doesn't disengage once I have stowed the buckets and have long since released the brake. What's going on here?There are other issues, with regard to the sounds, but I think that's an issue with the soundset that I am using. I will also have to adjust the [autopilot] section of the aircraft.cfg file because the intercept of radials and localisers is not as smooth as I would like, with a lot of wandering going on before finally establishing. Would really like some feedback on this please guys. Thanks a lot.

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Hey gang!I recently observed this little bug with FS2004. I was flying the default Piper Cub and after landing on RWY31R at KJFK, I attempted to vacate using differential braking (F11 and F12) and FS just crashed. I noticed it after that when I attempted to steer the default DH88 some time after. I then realised that no matter which aircraft I loaded, FS routinely crashed when differential brakes are used. I saw one other person post the same issue some time ago but nobody was able to help. It's fairly easy to replicate. I find that it doesn't happen immediatly but certainly after some degree of provacation. I do however notice that holding the F11 or the F12 key down does bring on the crash more regularly. Can one of you guys try to replicate it and perhaps give some insight as to what is happening? I recently did a reinstall of FS to attempt to solve this, but it didn't work. Need help guys..I love flying my old tail-dragers!~Tango.

Thanks for the help, guys.But I must say that both methods that you describe yield the same result. That error with the B732.gau file. I am beginning to suspect that I received a corrupted version of that file in some way. I'm gonna suspend using this download for now until I can get my hands on a guaranteed different source. (It hangs up my machine and requires a reboot with Ctrl+Alt+Del everytime that error comes up!). Great panesl are so often ruined by poor installation instructions by the creators. I'm most likely gonna make due with the far-easier to install Ken Mitchell panel and be done with it though. There's no point in me getting frustrated over this. Thanks a lot once again!~Tango.

I went ahead and downloaded Richard Probst's 737-200 panel and I am having a problem with it. For starters, the 732 I am using is a Kittyhawk Ryanair with Jaguar livery. I am also using FS2004.After unzipping I read the install instructions and it said:"FS2004:Using WinZip, extract to your FS2004 root folder using the "Use folder names" option. The full path must be //Fs2004/aircraft/fsfsconv/panel.b732, otherwise the sound effects will not work. All files, including the gauge and sounds, get put into the one panel folder."All this is fine, but when I do just that I get an error that FS can't run the B737.gau file. I'm also not very confident that the installation instructions are correct either because it mentions nothing about the aircraft panel folder or panel file. Can somebody give me a hand with this installation? Thanks.

I rebooted my computer and lo and behold Free PIC Editor no longer works! LOL! I keep getting a prompt saying that it has generated errors and it would be shut down by Windows. I uninstalled it and then reinstalled and the same thing keeps happening. Oh well...Terry...send me the syntax buddy! My life is easier with the more complicated things in the computer world! All I need is what each parameter is for. I am a real-life ATC so I can read approach plates etc, no need for tutorials. I ca fiddle around and make headway after that. Thanks in advance!~Tango.

As it happens Free PIC Editor is available right here at AVSIM (isn't that just ducky? LOL) But alas, I've encountered a problem. Free PIC Editor seems to be an FS2000 only application. It works with 2002 but it's not reading the navaid file of FS2002 and so I can't insert any navaids. Another problem is that when I set up an arc it gives me very eroneous coordinates for the ARC waypoints it creates. For example all the coordinates within a 12 miles radius of the navaid the arc surrounds has a latitude of N18...YET Free PIC Editor calculates a waypoint on the arc at N17. hen when I say ok, let me run the sim and see what happens. When saved as a .tr file the FMC doesn't recognise it AT ALL. If saved as a .wst file then it comes up in the FMC arrivals list, but not with the transition, but then there is no graphical display on the screen representing the arc. Unless I'm doing something wrong. I have more success with manually inputting the details. Still awaiting the syntax because Free PIC Editor isn't doing so well for me right now.~Tango.

THANKS!!Though you didn't answer the question directly, this tool will do the trick. I'm downloading it now! I'll post back and tell you how it works. I still need the syntax, but I can deduce that once I start to fill in known values etc. Thanks a lot, really appreciate the help!~Tango.

Once again. I'm not trying to find out how to to use the FMC to programme SIDs and STARs. I can already do that. I am trying to create a file from within the "navdata" folder. There is a syntax involved in doing this that is NOT in the FMC manual. A typical .wst or .tr file will look like this when opened in Notepad:W,LVZ,,0,41.272807,-75.689471,111.599998,0.000000,0,0,0,W,JENNO,,0,41.152921,-75.331408,0.000000,0.000000,0,0,0,W,HARTY,,0,41.071189,-75.089894,0.000000,0.000000,0,23000,0,W,STW,,0,40.995818,-74.869015,109.599998,0.000000,0,0,0,W,LENDY,,0,40.914832,-74.135258,0.000000,0.000000,0,19000,0,I've figured out the following:,,,,,,,,,,I'm still at a loss as to what A, B, C, D, and E are. hat's what I'm trying to find out. I've tried searching all over the net to no avail.~Tango.

The 767PIC manual tells how to programme the FMC to fly a SID or STAR. That's not what I am trying to do. I'm trying to create .wst and .tr files, as found in the navdata sub-folder of the FMCWP folder. So far I have done fairly well, but I'm not where I need to be. I can set up a STAR and have the acft fly it, but I get waypoint indicators where I don't want them. Need more info.

I'm trying to add a few SIDs and STARs to the FMC of 767PIC. I've had a fair amount of success but I am having a problem with the format and the syntax of the .wst and .tr files. Looking at the default files, I have been able to deduce a lot, but not as much as I would like. I've checked navdata.at but lo and behold the ONLY format they don't give tutorial for is PIC. Somebody help me!

Greetings! Glad to be able to join this forum. I'm a real-life air traffic controller in Jamaica and I started running sims recently to better help me understand what I'm telling pilots to do. I recently installed 767 PIC on my WIN2000 computer and I'm running the sim through FS2002. I've already installed the patch. I notice that on the default (and other subsequently installed acft) that the airspeed indicator works from zero. On PIC it starts after 30knots. Is this typical of the real acft, or is this an error? That said, if it is typical, is there a way to tweak it so that it will read from zero? Another question is this. It seems as if I can't get the acft to turn when pushing back like I can with the other acft. Is this a fault of some sort that is correctable? Thanks for the help in advance. Looking fwd to healthy suggestions/advice.